Why I will not buy the K7

Hi,

I will not be buying the K7 or any other Pentax product. This has nothing to do with the K7 being disappointing and it is a camera I would like to own but have you seen what Pentax are doing with their lens prices…….the 50-135mm DA* has almost doubled in price and other lenses have massively increased in price. Are Pentax insane!!!!

I cannot justify spending £919 on a lens that cost £479 only 2 weeks ago. I switched to Pentax when the K10D came out as it offered a lot of camera for a reasonable price and more importantly the lenses were good value, it seems this is no longer the case. I currently own the K20D and a 3 lenses (16-45mm, 55-300mm & 50mm) not one of these lenses cost over £250 and I think the price to performance ratio is excellent but I have been saving for some of the DA* lenses but this is now a pipe dream as the 3 lenses I want would have cost around £1900 but that has increased to over £3000 and I cannot justify that level of expenditure. I am surprised that users are not complaining loudly to Pentax as there seems to be no justifiable reason for this level of price increase apart from good old profiteering.

From a sales point of view I asked some people in the trade how sales have been affected by the price increases and was informed that the sales of the 60-250mm and the 50-135mm have gone from healthy to almost zero. I was also told that most of the DA* and Limited’s are going to see hefty price increases if they have not already done so. Pentax seem to have found a way of crippling sales despite bringing out an excellent DSLR in the K7.

I understand that price rises are inevitable and I am not questioning that; it’s the level of increase that I find inexcusable and for all those people who are about to tell me about the £ versus Yen/Dollar/Euro exchange rates, don’t bother, it has little or nothing to do with it. I am also informed that prices in the US are about to follow suit and its already happening in the Euro zone. It seems as though the price hikes are down to a company strategy rather than a consequence of the current economic situation.

So, if this is to be the future of Pentax then I may as well buy the replacement for the D300 when it comes out….sure going to miss in body SR though.